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Circumstances of Disappearance
Dixon was last seen in Grass Valley, California on September 21, 1978. She was leaving for a nearly three-hour trip to visit her brother, Harry Leighton, and his family in Seven Troughs, Nevada, near Lovelock, in an unincorporated part of Pershing County, Nevada.

Dixon was last seen driving a 1976 Datsun B210 4-door, lime green - yellow in color. Dixon never arrived at her destination and her family reported her missing a short time later. The sheriff of Pershing County at the time, said that his office didn't have any evidence that Dixon had ever reached his county. Nearly three months later, Dixon's husband, received a charge card bill for $4.18 from a Texaco gas station in Lovelock. The new revelation prompted a subsequent round of searches, but there were no results

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Dixon's family hired psychics and private investigators and sent them to Nevada. In November 1982, the car Dixon was driving was found by coyote hunters in a ravine below the main road of the Seven Troughs turnoff. It had been discovered in an area that had been previously searched from the air and by ground. The car appeared to have been deliberately driven over a rocky road and into the ravine. Tire tracks could be seen where it left the road and traversed down into the gulch. The tires were badly scuffed from having been driven over the rocky road, but otherwise held air and were considered to be in reasonably good condition. The car also contained a half tank of gasoline.

A possible suicide note had been planted inside the car. Family members do not believe that Dixon would kill herself because she was "strong and lively." Also, the note had not been signed.

Disturbing evidence found inside the car included four empty cigarette cartons. Although Dixon had been a light smoker who only took part in the habit occasionally, it seemed highly unlikely that she had consumed four cartons of cigarettes within the confines of her vehicle. Besides, the cartons were not of the same brand that Dixon had smoked. Portions of black electrical tape were found inside the car as well, and one roll that was intact contained a single hair and what appeared to be tissue attached to it. What appeared to be bloodstains were found on a mat inside the trunk, as well as on a tire and a rim, suggestive of the possibility that a body had been transported in the car's trunk. Nonetheless, the Pershing County Sheriff's Department closed the case as a "suicide," and in the years since Dixon's disappearance all of the evidence in the case has also disappeared.

The e-mail was from Mona Mansfield-Erhardt, and her motivation for sending it to me was to solicit my help in renewing interest in finding the remains of her grandmother, Nan Cecile Dixon, 72 at the time she disappeared, who Mona and other family members believe was murdered at some point after setting out from her home in Grass Valley, California on September 21, 1978 for a nearly three-hour trip to visit her brother, Harry Leighton, his wife, Lulu, and their adult son, Arthur, also known as "Butch," at Seven Troughs, Nevada, near Lovelock in the northern part of the Silver State in an unincorporated part of Pershing County.

I have not given up the quest to find my grandmother's remains in that Nevada Desert. My hope is that the murderer's conscience will burn horrifically enough to assist with unearthing her bones. We know who did this, and he believes that proof will never come forth... he's dead wrong, as he forgot to factor in one young granddaughter, who, as an adult, is focused on Justice in this case.

I have not given up the quest to find my grandmother's remains in that Nevada Desert. My hope is that the murderer's conscience will burn horrifically enough to assist with unearthing her bones. We know who did this, and he believes that proof will never come forth... he's dead wrong, as he forgot to factor in one young granddaughter, who, as an adult, is focused on Justice in this case.

When all the evidence has disappeared, the energies remain.

Mona Mansfield Erhardt

Mona, I can only imagine how horrible this is for you and your family.

A possible suicide note had been planted inside the car. Family members do not believe that Dixon would kill herself because she was "strong and lively." Also, the note had not been signed.

Disturbing evidence found inside the car included four empty cigarette cartons. Although Dixon had been a light smoker who only took part in the habit occasionally, it seemed highly unlikely that she had consumed four cartons of cigarettes within the confines of her vehicle. Besides, the cartons were not of the same brand that Dixon had smoked. Portions of black electrical tape were found inside the car as well, and one roll that was intact contained a single hair and what appeared to be tissue attached to it. What appeared to be bloodstains were found on a mat inside the trunk, as well as on a tire and a rim, suggestive of the possibility that a body had been transported in the car's trunk. Nonetheless, the Pershing County Sheriff's Department closed the case as a "suicide," and in the years since Dixon's disappearance all of the evidence in the case has also disappeared.

That is very mysterious, yet the LE's "suicide" theory at the time really doesn't wash. I think there is only one gas station in Lovelock. I would like to know if the gas was purchased by Mrs. Dixon or by someone else. From what I heard though, I really don't have much faith in the original investigation.

Nan Dixon has been missing for 37 years now. Her granddaughter continues searching; I'm hoping she can get answers.

I don't want to say that the investigation was a cover-up but there was certainly a lack of interest (to put it mildly) in finding Nan. They closed it as a suicide but there was no evidence of that besides for a "note". On the Charley Project, it says that the investigation was reopened in 2007 but it doesn't specify if it is now a homicide case.

I don't know if you'll be notified of this but I have a couple of questions. The credit card charge that her husband saw. Was it dated around the time of her disappearance and he just saw it months later? Or was the card charged for gas months later? Like someone used it. And also, how closely did they look into the brother that owed her money?